Charles I. Loftin III ’59

Charles I. Loftin III ’59, of Roanoke, Va., died on Apr. 24 after a courageous three-year battle with cancer. He retired last November from 37 years of practice with Internal Medicine Associates. He was a graduate of Davidson College and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He did a general medicine internship at the Medical College of Georgia followed by two years of service as a captain in the Air Force medical corps at Langley Air Force Base. He completed an internal medicine residency at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He was a member of the Roanoke Valley Medical Society, the Medical Society of Virginia, and the American Society of Internal Medicine. He was a member of Second Presbyterian Church where he served as deacon, elder, youth leader, Sunday school teacher, and member of the Chancel Choir. He had also sung with the Roanoke Valley Choral Society, the St. John’s choir, and the Opera Roanoke Chorus. He was a past president of the Arthritis Foundation and a founding board member of the Pastoral Counseling Center. He was on the current board of Opera Roanoke. His great loves were his family, his church, his patients, his music, and his garden. A vase of his beloved roses was always on his office desk. He was the son of the late Carolyn Highsmith and Charles I. Loftin, Jr., of Gastonia, N.C. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Alice Chatham Loftin, 2429 Richelieu Ave. S.W., Roanoke, VA 24014; his daughter, Catherine Loftin ’87 (Robert Tracy Odum Jr. ’86); son, Christopher Gwyn (Holly Bradshaw Loftin); and four grandchildren, Evelyn Gwyn Loftin, Charles Alexander Loftin, Alice Dean Odum, and Catherine Charles Odum. He is also survived by two brothers, David Highsmith Loftin and Bruce Watkins Loftin.